What Ails The Sari?

It has its own charm and appeal.

- Dr Veena Adige

A typical common Indian attire once, the traditional sari is now on the verge extinction. More and more women are nowadays substituting the sari for a salwar kameez or a western outfit, especially the working women in urban areas.

"The sari is so uncomfortable," opines Sunita, a 30-year-old electronics engineer. "I have to sit for hours in front of my laptop and change postures quite often. The sari would get crumpled or come out," she laughs.

"It takes too long to drape a sari properly," says Dimpi, a teacher, "I am often in a hurry to get to my classes and draping a sari is difficult. I reserve wearing a sari for special occasions. I like it but have the time issues."

Their experiences are no doubt true but then, for decades, Indian women have literally lived in saris. Our grandmothers and their mothers started wearing a sari as soon as they were in their teens and had no problems.

They worked, climbed, and slept in their saris. No nighties, no house coats, it was sari round the clock.

I remember seeing pictures of high school girls wearing saris in Mumbai. Canossa High school in Mahim, allowed girls in high school to wear saris and there were many, slowly dwindling down as the years passed.

In South India, girls happily donned the colourful half saris, popular till a couple of decades back, especially in the rural areas. They jumped and skipped, climbed trees and did all household work in half or full saris and did not grumble. I was curious and wanted to find out the history of our typical Indian attire the sari. A sari-like drapery is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2800-1800 BCE around northwest India.

Cotton was first cultivated and woven around the 5th millennium. Dyes used during this period are still in use, particularly indigo, lac, red madder and turmeric. Silk was woven around 2450 BCE and 2000 BCE.